East Texans question if CSCOPE is really over

Concerned citizens and educators from all over Texas gathered in Van
Zandt County to discuss the CSCOPE program, a controversial curriculum
system.

More than 800 Texas school districts use CSCOPE, an internet based
system, that has received numerous complaints of having an
"Anti-American" agenda.

Senators looked into a complaint about reports of a lesson describing
participants of the Boston Tea Party as terrorists, which can by found here. Another
sixth-grade lesson that asked students to create their own flag for a
new socialist country.

Although creators of CSCOPE have voted
to take down all online lesson plans amid continued complaints, East
Texans said the battle is far from over.

Senators looked into
a complaint about a lesson describing participants of the Boston Tea
Party as terrorists and another sixth-grade lesson that asked students
to create their own flag for a new socialist country.

They are lessons that has many East Texans fired up.

"It's
alarming; it is alarming how subtle something can creep into the public
school system," said Don Kirkpatrick, Van Zandt County's Justice of the
Peace PCT 1.

Jeanine McGregor said she was asked to testify before the Senate Education Committee after putting together a CSCOPE report.

"When
I looked into it, I realized there are a lot of problems here that did
not fit into the traditional way of teaching and learning, and since
Texas is a conservative state and we consider ourselves a Christian
state, that some of the lessons kind of went against those, not kind of,
those lessons went against those traditional values," McGregor said.

Many
parents said they want to take lessons offline and instead just use
text books that children can bring home. They said it would make it
easier to see what their kids are learning in school.

Board of
Education Chairwoman Barbara Cargill said CSCOPE has " vividly shown
what can happen with content when it is left unchecked and with limited
parental access."

CSCOPE creators voted to take down all lesson plans effective August 31st, but some said CSCOPE is not over.

"It's
not being taken out. The scoping sequence and the time management
system of CSCOPE will still be rented to the school districts across the
state," said concerned parents and board member of Women on the Wall,
Alice Linahan.

While these parents and educators said they are
happy the lesson plans are gone, they said the CSCOPE assessments, which
can still be used, are also controversial.

"The CSCOPE tests
have as much indoctrination and slant in their questions as the lessons
do. Also the questions are very opinion based," McGregor said.

After attending the meeting, East Texans said they will be keeping a watchful eye on their school districts.

"We
will be in touch with our state legislatures our state senators to see
if it is truly dead or non-existent now, or is it just going to take a
different direction?" Kirkpatrick questioned.

The State Board
of Education is scrapping its special panel to review the controversial
curriculum system since the creators have agreed to stop offering
lesson plans.

However, some East Texans at the meeting said
the panel needs to continue to get to the bottom of what exactly their
children were learning.

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